Marubasu

Marubasu is a character from the Kishin Douji Zenki series.

He is a middle aged human man with short, white hair and black eyes. He wears red clothes, silver boots and a purple cape with silver shoulder plates.

Marubasu is an antagonist of the Inugami or Dog Deity ark, where he serves as the main antagonist of the Vajura Fight timeline and the game's final boss.

Marubasu is a character exclusive to Vajura Fight. This means that he doesn't appear in the anime, the manga or any other Kishin Douji Zenki games besides the aforementioned one.

Ingame
Marubasu is first introduced in the PC-FX game Kishin Douji Zenki FX - Vajura Fight.

Ingame, Marubasu is the main villain and leader of a organization which tries to surpass the Inugami Roh and his Shitennou.

Throughout the game, Marubasu makes various minor appearances. The very beginning of the game has Marubasu trapping Zenki and Chiaki in an alternate reality, similar to the plot token, used by the Jushi (aka "Curse Samurai") in the earlier Jushi ark.

To escape the alternate reality and free Japan, Zenki and Chiaki need to defeat Marubasu and his henchmen, though they weren't the only ones trapped in there, as they also encounter the Inugami Roh, his faithful wolf Kokutei and Hiki the Black Tortoise.

Occasionally, Zenki and Chiaki meet Marubasu, who constantly keeps mocking them and challenges them to continue his little game to face him in the end, so he can take them down by himself.

Once Zenki and Chiaki reach Marubasu's lair, the latter kills Fushushoku, whom both have chased to him, before starting the final fight. His weapon of choice is a katana, which he impressively uses to perform the skills of a true master swordsman, posing a great threat to both the Demon God and his human master.

Marubasu's impressive sword skills, great speed, abilty to fly, use of a katana and ability to shoot energy slashes with the aforementioned katana, give him similarities to the Shitennou's Chimaru, though that's were their similarities end as Marubasu is neither a member of the Shitennou nor a vampire.

Once Demon God Zenki has defeated Marubasu, the latter's dead body just lies there on the ground. Zenki and Chiaki are returned to the shrine from the beginning of the game in the real world.

Afterwards, Chiaki deduces that Marubasu was responsible for Nozomi's brainwashing and death and walks towards the latter to seal him for her, only for Zenki to tell her to stop since Marubasu was supposed to be his prey. Chiaki smirks realizing that she was just going to allow Zenki to finish off Marubasu's dead body. At that moment Marubasu's human corpse turns out to be a costume. He isn't dead. A slimy centipede-like beastman rises, leaving the torn up costume behing and captures Chiaki. This causes Zenki to realize that Marubasu is still alive, while Marubasu holds Chiaki over his head like a trophy, laughing and stating that his fight against both Zenki and Chiaki is not over yet.

Shortly afterwards, Roh and Kokutei make a swift entrance, teleporting themselves right behind, the now monstrous, Marubasu. Roh isn't impressed and shoots a laser beam from his palm, straight through Marubasu's heart. This instantly kills Marubasu for real and frees Chiaki.

Afterwards, Roh takes the Hyouinomi, which Marubasu left behind for himself, feeds it to Kokutei and pets him. Zenki is obviously furious at Roh for snatching away the delicious Hyouinomi and starts arguing with the still unimpressed Inugami.

The Inugami mocks Zenki, who responds by using the Vajura Beam Exorcirsm, but failing when Roh easily counters this with a gust-like barrier. The Inugami states how easy it was for him to seal Marubasu and that they would have been dead if he hadn't shown up.

Roh and Kokutei leave the scene, leaving behind Zenki, who curses at Roh, angrily shaking his fist and vowing to get revenge on him for his "insolence" and Chiaki wonders if that's the last they saw of the Inugami. Cue, the ending credits rolling.

Marubasu's fighting skills
Marubasu is an excellent swordsman who wields a katana. He can strike very quickly and cut down his foes at ease. This makes fighting him very difficult for Zenki and Chiaki, who will quickly get caught in a barrage of slicing attacks, being severely wounded.

Though this doesn't only count for his sword strikes, as Marubasu is also able to use magic and psychic attacks. He can levitate in mid-air and catch his foes in a psychic sphere, making them unable to move and then either sends them into the atmosphere, causing them to crash back down with great force or slices them in mid-air. Sometimes, he also throws them into a wall by shooting a large, purple magic sphere at his foes. Ingame, these attacks also cause a high anmount of damage.

Despite his bulky appearance, Marubasu can move extremely fast. He also has a very similar fighting stile to Chimaru. The combination of his use of magical attacks, psychic attacks and his katana, make Marubasu a very threatening foe.

Marubasu's motives?
While Marubasu's actual ingame motives are still unknown, as the game featuring him has yet to be translated into English, he is a very ruthless character who manipulates others to his favor.

Though it is likely that Marubasu is just another villain taking clues from Shijura, who just aims at topping Ozunu Enno by killing Zenki and Chiaki to prove his superiority as a magician/priest.

Appearance

 * The manga features a character with a very similar appearance to Marubasu. His name is Gouji and he is a random mugger. While the two look alike, they are not the same character as previously thought, though Marubasu's appearance might be based on this lesser villain.
 * Their similar appearances also prevail after their transformation into Hyouijuu. Despite this, Marubasu becomes more of a dragon, while Gouji becomes a lesser, centipede-like creature.
 * Thanks to AzureKnight2008, it was possible to clear up the confusion between Marubasu and Gouji.

Similarities to other series' characters

 * Marubasu looks very similar to the Street Fighter series' M. Bison, sans the hat.
 * Also just like M. Bison, Marubasu can levitate and fly around the arena and hits very hard.
 * Unlike M. Bison he is very fast and his attacks can't be blocked. This makes him a very tough opponent which might cost the player a few lives, especially if they are playing as Chiaki. This is because Chiaki is slower and less agile than Zenki.
 * In Vajura Fight, he is voiced by Norio Wakamoto. Norio has been best known for voicing villainous characters in video games, anime, and other media, including but not limited to M. Bison as mentioned above, as well as Cell from Dragon Ball Z, Barbatos Goetia from Tales of Destiny 2, Black Shadow from F-Zero: GP Legend, Xemnas from the Kingdom Hearts series, Dracula from the Castlevania series, and Mumkhar/Metal Face from Xenoblade Chronicles. Interestingly, Norio also voiced Johnny from Guilty Gear, who was not a villain.